Patients are often admitted to emergency rooms or visit a new doctor, when the patient is in possession of medicine that is not in the original prescription container. For example, the patient may have removed the pills and put them in plastic bags.
In some cases there is a need to quickly identify the specific pills. For example, when a person is brought into a police station in possession of some pills and the police need to determine whether the pills are abusive narcotics or some other pills required for some ailment of the person. While all health care professionals, including paramedics or first responders, and law enforcement agencies have a critical role to play in minimizing the abuse and diversion of narcotics and controlled substances, they need better tools to identify pills, capsules, tablets, etc.
Currently, one of the methods of identifying an unknown pill is by chemical analysis of the pill. This procedure is expensive, time consuming and destructive as the pill is generally destroyed during the analysis, which may be an issue if the is pill needed for evidence in a trial.
Besides, there are organizations such as Pharmer.org (see http://www.pharmer.org/), a non-profit educational resource, that help identify and teach about medicines that are prescribed. Such organizations have assembled some pill identification reference tools, which include data on imprints, and shape and color of the pills. For example, a common opioid painkiller medicine called Vicodin (shown in FIG. 1), within the family called hydrocodone/acetaminophen medicines, has the following pill identifiers: Manufacturer: Abbott Laboratories; Imprint/Markings: VICODIN: Strength (mg) hydrocodone/acetaminophen: 5/500; Color: White; Shape: Oblong; Brand: VICODIN; Comments: Scored. Other identifiers include size and codes, including a bar code. Unfortunately, many pills do not contain the name of the product as in the case of VICODIN. In addition, there is no automated system that allows detection of the identification reference parameters such as imprint, color, shape, etc.
Drug abusers may be difficult to distinguish from legitimate patients. The patient at a clinic or office claiming to have a migraine headache or back pain may be a legitimate sufferer. On the other hand, the individual may be seeking a controlled substance to feed an addiction, or a criminal looking for controlled substances to sell. To take a balanced approach to the prevention of drug abuse and diversion, health professionals must be able to accurately and rapidly identify pills carried by someone. Thus, there is a need for a rapid, accurate and automated pill identification system for health professionals who are authorized to prescribe narcotics and controlled substances, those who are authorized to dispense (e.g., pharmacists), those involved in administering these drugs (e.g., nurses), as well as all those involved in controlling trafficking of drugs (e.g., police). Such a pill identification system would allow health care providers and regulators to promote appropriate use of narcotics and controlled substances while at the same time minimizing their abuse and diversion.
The embodiments of the invention relate to a rapid, accurate and automated pill identification system. The embodiments of the invention would strengthen the rational for prescription use of narcotics and other controlled substances and minimize their abuse and diversion through easy and accurate identification of pills.